Easter Questions
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5
The women were lost in despair and grief. They went to the last place anyone had seen Jesus: dead in the tomb. But the angel’s question was: “Why would He be here? Why didn’t you understand and believe what Jesus had promised? He is living and not dead!” The women should have known. They heard Him tell them several times that He would die and rise again.
Why didn’t they believe and understand? Because what they had seen on Good Friday filled their hearts with fear, grief, despair, and loss. Where should they have looked? To Jesus’ Word! The angels said, “Remember how He spoke to you.”
All too often, when our faith is weak and full of doubts, we look for Jesus in all the wrong places. Where are we supposed to find Jesus? Dead in the grave? No, we find Him alive in the Gospel. We find Him in the Word that is preached to us. We find Him in our Bibles. We find Him in our Baptism and in the Lord’s Supper.
The angels told these women to remember what Jesus had said to them. They told them to remember the Gospel: Jesus died and rose for them. The great irony of the resurrection is that Jesus is not found where people expect Him to be. Instead, He’s found right where He said He would be: in His promises, in the Gospel, not someplace else.
The Scripture says that after seeing the empty tomb, “they remembered His words.” Suddenly, it all came flooding back to them. The power of the Holy Spirit through the Word creates, strengthens, and clarifies faith. And what did they remember? They remembered the promise of everlasting life. That’s where the power is, in His Word, and when these women heard it, they believed it and they ran to tell the disciples. (Luke 24:9)
Dear Jesus, in our doubts, fears, and worries, may we always remember that You are alive again and look to Your Word for strength, comfort, peace, and joy. Amen.